STORMERS 44 – 21 CARDIFF RUGBY A defiant Cardiff Rugby skipper Liam Belcher pledged his side would be back in the BKT United Rugby Championship play-offs next season despite going down to defeat in their first quarter final in Cape Town. Next season will be the 150th anniversary of rugby at the Arms Park and […]
STORMERS 44 – 21 CARDIFF RUGBY
A defiant Cardiff Rugby skipper Liam Belcher pledged his side would be back in the BKT United Rugby Championship play-offs next season despite going down to defeat in their first quarter final in Cape Town.
Next season will be the 150th anniversary of rugby at the Arms Park and Belcher believes the strides that have been taken at the club over the past three years have laid the foundations for future success.
“There has been three years of hard work put in to get us to this point. There were some dark times in those three years, but the foundations are there and we need to kick on next season,” said Belcher.
“We’ve had a taste of it, so hopefully we’ll be back here again next season. We worked hard all season to finish in the top eight and we are gutted with the final result in this game.
“We didn’t show a full 80-minute performance. Overall, it’s a good season because we made history, but we’re gutted with the result.
“The set piece won Stormers the game and we didn’t get much purchase off the aerial battle either. Set piece is what they’re good at, that’s their real strength.”
Everything started well for Belcher’s boys in the opening exchanges and but for a forward pass from a line out five metres out they may have opened up the home defence earlier than they actually did.
That ball for Johan Mulder to Josh Adams coming in on the charge cost a good position and also gave the Stormers the chance to exert their authority at scrum time. They picked up a free kick from the first coming together and went on to pick up five penalties in that area in the first half alone.
That ended up being Cardiff’s Achilles heel. They conceded 10 penalties in the first half alone and 15 in the match. They also suffered two yellow cards and were reduced to 13 men for almost 10 minutes in the second half when they had to go to uncontested scrums.
Even so, it was the Welsh region that drew first blood in the 19th minute when Jacob Beetham intercepted a pass in his 22 by home scrum half Imad Khan and raced clear. He reached half way, took the defensive tackle and sent Cam Winnett speeding to the right corner.
Ioan Lloyd’s touchline conversion was a beauty and Cardiff had the lead. They held onto their advantage for four minutes before the Stormers hit back with the first of three tries in the opening 40.
Hooker Andre-Hugo Venter converted the first from a driving line-out, loose head prop Ntuthuko Mchunu thundered over on a line-out peel for the next and wing Leolin Zas sprinted the length of the 22 for the third soon after Kieron Assiratti had picked up a yellow card for collapsing the scrum.
All three scores were improved by Springboks outside half Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu to give the home side a 21-7 interval lead.
Cardiff needed to start the second half in similar fashion to the first and they returned to the field in confident mood. Assiratti returned in time for a scrum five metres out and was able to hold it up long enough for Taine Basham to pick up and burst over the line.
Lloyd’s conversion cut the gap to one score and put the Stormers on notice they weren’t going to have an easy time. The South Africans, who were winners of the title in 2022, took advantage of a poor cross field kick by Lloyd to conjure up a try for Feinberg-Mngomezulu to make it 26-14.
Cardiff were full of attacking intent when they had the ball and after kicking deep into the corner on the hour mark they came up with a third try from James Botham as he touched down from the second shift of a driving line out. Lloyd’s conversion cut the gap to five points.
That, though, was as good as it got for the visitors. The Stormers powered on to win with two more tries and two penalties to ensure they will have a home semi-final next weekend.
Scorers: Stormers: Tries: Andre-Hugo Venter (24), Ntuthuko Mchunu (29), Leolin Zas (36), Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (52), Paul de Villiers (64), JJ Kotze (78); Cons: Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu 3; Pens: Jurie Matthee 2. Cardiff Rugby: Tries: Cam Winnett (19), Taine Basham (45), James Botham (60); Cons: Ioan Lloyd 3.